Kelly says Civil War was caused by lack of 'compromise'

White House chief of staff John Kelly said Monday that the Civil War was "caused by a lack of an ability to compromise" and that Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was "an honorable man."

“I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man," Kelly told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

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"He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it's different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War. And men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand."

Ingraham asked Kelly about recent movements to rid towns and cities of monuments dedicated to Confederate figures, including a Virginia church's decision to relocate markers honoring Lee and President George Washington, who attended the church.

Both Lee and Washington were slave owners. A church official told The Associated Press that conversations about relocating the plaques had been going on for quite some time, but the church's consideration was heightened after a woman was killed in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a protest against a white nationalist and neo-Nazi rally that sought to use a statue of Lee as a symbol.

Kelly, like President Donald Trump, bemoans a culture that imposes modern-day values on historic figures. He added that while mistakes occur, it is a slippery slope to begin passing judgment on people like Lee, Washington and Christopher Columbus.

"I think it's just very, very dangerous. It shows you what — how much of a lack of appreciation of history and what history is," Kelly said.

Historians have debated endlessly the causes of the Civil War, but Kelly's contention that the Civil War was caused by a lack of compromise is not borne out by the facts. In the nation's early decades, Congress passed a number of compromises in which slavery was allowed to expand in certain areas under certain circumstances. Still, eventually, increased tensions boiled over into war.